February 10, 2025 by Lucas Ajanaku

A programme for mid-stage entrepreneurs in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, Cascador, has restated its mission of transforming the economic future of the continent.

Its Founder, Dave DeLucia, in an overview of Cascador 2024 Programme, said the vision of the initiative extends beyond producing individual successes but building a network of leaders that would shape the continent.

“Our vision extends beyond individual success stories or high-growth companies. We’re building a network of transformational leaders who will shape Africa’s economic future. The 2024 cohort exemplifies this vision in action,” DeLucia said, adding that the Cascador programme stands at the forefront of developing transformational entrepreneurs across Africa.

For this year, Co-Director of Cascador, Trish Thomas, said there will be an expansion in engagement in Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“As we look to 2025, we’re excited to build on the success of this year’s program. The achievements of our 2024 cohort have set a new standard for what’s possible when we invest in African entrepreneurship. Expect to see a strong expansion of Cascador’s engagement with and investment in the Nigerian entrepreneurial ecosystem in the near future,” Thomas said, adding that applications for the 2025 cohort will open in April 2025. Interested entrepreneurs can learn more and register their interest at www.cascador.org.

Looking back, DeLucia said in a year marked by unprecedented challenges and opportunities in Africa’s entrepreneurial landscape, the Cascador 2024 Program has emerged as a beacon of innovation and impact. This transformative initiative brought together nine remarkable mid-stage entrepreneurs whose ventures are reshaping industries and uplifting communities across Nigeria.

“What sets this cohort apart is their unwavering commitment to business excellence and making a positive impact. These entrepreneurs aren’t just building companies; they’re creating solutions that address critical challenges across Africa,” DeLucia.

From revolutionizing educational access to democratizing financial services for rural communities, the 2024 cohort exemplified the resilient and innovative spirit that defines African entrepreneurship. Through an intensive 10 week program combining in-person education at Lagos Business School, virtual learning sessions, and one-on-one mentorship and advisory support, these visionary leaders have emerged equipped with enhanced capabilities to scale their impact.

The program’s culmination featured a dynamic pitch competition that showcased the cohort’s remarkable growth and vision. The distinguished panel of judges, including Ada Osakwe and Daniel Adeoye, recognized outstanding achievements across multiple categories:

Pitch competition winner, Godwin Benson, smiled home with $20,000 for his innovation called Tuteria for revolutionizing access to quality education through an innovative tutoring platform and curated tutor-student matching that particularly serves children with special learning needs.

“Tuteria’s approach to educational access isn’t just innovative—it’s transformational. Godwin and his team have created a scalable solution that addresses one of our continent’s most pressing challenges: quality education for all,” Osakwe, the lead judge, said.

Recalling his experience, Benson said: “Through Cascador, we gained clarity on how to double our revenues in the short term and optimize our team dynamics. The program helped us understand our core strengths, align team roles more effectively, and identify clear growth opportunities. We now have a strong roadmap for scaling our impact.”

Another is Impact Award of $20,000 which went to Chioma Ifeanyi-Eze’s Accountinghub. It was an award for transforming digital literacy across Africa through Data-Entry Academy, empowering adults with crucial workplace skills.

“The most valuable part of Cascador for me, was improving the ability to tell my story. “Cascador makes you pitch, rewrite your story, and pitch again. It just helps you better appreciate what you are doing and the impact you’re making in society,” Ifeanyi-Eze said.

For the Exemplary Cascador Award of $10,000, it went to Oluwaseyi Adefemi, Drive45 Mobility. It was also for outstanding leadership, collaboration, and innovative approach to democratizing vehicle ownership through subscription services.

“Cascador forced me to answer a simple but critical question: who is my primary customer. As soon as I arrived at that epiphany, it changed everything. All of the energy I was expending chasing other things could now be conserved and channeled in the direction of where my customers really are,” Adefemi said.

Faculty Advisor, serial entrepreneur, and Founder of Future Africa, Iyin Aboyeji, explained the interesting aspect of the cohort.

“What impressed me most about this cohort was their ability to build businesses to solve big problems that impact real people. No valuation games. No building for Silicon Valley. Just true impact; every entrepreneur displayed servant leadership in building their solutions – each with their own story of strong resolve and sacrifice. All eager to learn. This is my 5th year and every year it gets better,” Aboyeji said.

The 2024 cohort represented a diverse cross-section of industries vital to Africa’s economic development including education & workforce development as observed in Benson’s Tuteria democratizing access to quality education through personalized tutoring; Eyitayo Ogunmola’s Utiva: Bridging the tech skills gap through virtual learning and talent placement; and Ifeanyi-Eze, Accountinghub: Empowering professionals with digital workplace skills.

In the area of logistics and mobility saw Olawaseun Alley’s Fez Delivery: Optimizing last-mile delivery services for businesses and individuals; and Adefemi’s Drive45 Mobility: Innovating vehicle access through subscription services.

For financial inclusion and rural development, Abiola Jimoh’s XchangeBox: Bridging the rural-urban financial divide by connecting traders and farmers with tailored banking solutions; and Amanda Etuk’s Messenger: Revolutionizing vehicle financing and providing vital working capital to logistics operators.

TheMorning Star2 months ago 

A program for mid-stage entrepreneurs in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, Cascador, has restated its goal of transforming the economic future of the continent.

Its Founder, Dave DeLucia, in an overview of Cascador 2024 Program, said the vision of the initiative extends beyond producing individual successes but building a network of leaders that would shape the continent.

 “Our vision extends beyond individual success stories or high-growth companies. We’re building a network of transformational leaders who will shape Africa’s economic future. The 2024 cohort exemplifies this vision in action,” DeLucia said, adding that the Cascador program stood at the forefront of developing transformational entrepreneurs across Africa.

For this year, Co-Director of Cascador, Trish Thomas, said there will be an expansion in engagement in Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“As we look to 2025, we’re excited to build on the success of this year’s program. The achievements of our 2024 cohort have set a new standard for what’s possible when we invest in African entrepreneurship. Expect to see a strong expansion of Cascador’s engagement with and investment in the Nigerian entrepreneurial ecosystem in the near future,” Thomas said, adding that applications for the 2025 cohort will open in April 2025. Interested entrepreneurs, he said can learn more and register their interest at www.cascador.org.

Looking back, DeLucia said in a year marked by unprecedented challenges and opportunities in Africa’s entrepreneurial landscape, the Cascador 2024 Program has emerged as a beacon of innovation and impact. This transformative initiative brought together nine remarkable mid-stage entrepreneurs whose ventures are reshaping industries and uplifting communities across Nigeria.

“What sets this cohort apart is their unwavering commitment to business excellence and making a positive impact. These entrepreneurs aren’t just building companies; they’re creating solutions that address critical challenges across Africa,” DeLucia.

From revolutionizing educational access to democratizing financial services for rural communities, the 2024 cohort exemplified the resilient and innovative spirit that defines African entrepreneurship. Through an intensive 10 week program combining in-person education at Lagos Business School, virtual learning sessions, and one-on-one mentorship and advisory support, these visionary leaders have emerged equipped with enhanced capabilities to scale their impact.

The program’s culmination featured a dynamic pitch competition that showcased the cohort’s remarkable growth and vision. The distinguished panel of judges, including Ada Osakwe and Daniel Adeoye, recognized outstanding achievements across multiple categories:

Pitch competition winner, Godwin Benson, smiled home with $20,000 for his innovation called Tuteria for revolutionizing access to quality education through an innovative tutoring platform and curated tutor-student matching that particularly serves children with special learning needs.

“Tuteria’s approach to educational access isn’t just innovative—it’s transformational. Godwin and his team have created a scalable solution that addresses one of our continent’s most pressing challenges: quality education for all,” Osakwe, the lead judge, said.

Recalling his experience, Benson said: “Through Cascador, we gained clarity on how to double our revenues in the short term and optimize our team dynamics. The program helped us understand our core strengths, align team roles more effectively, and identify clear growth opportunities. We now have a strong roadmap for scaling our impact.”

Another is Impact Award of $20,000 which went to Chioma Ifeanyi-Eze’s Accountinghub. It was an award for transforming digital literacy across Africa through Data-Entry Academy, empowering adults with crucial workplace skills.

“The most valuable part of Cascador for me, was improving the ability to tell my story. “Cascador makes you pitch, rewrite your story, and pitch again. It just helps you better appreciate what you are doing and the impact you’re making in society,” Ifeanyi-Eze said.

For the Exemplary Cascador Award of $10,000, it went to Oluwaseyi Adefemi, Drive45 Mobility. It was also for outstanding leadership, collaboration, and innovative approach to democratizing vehicle ownership through subscription services.

“Cascador forced me to answer a simple but critical question: who is my primary customer. As soon as I arrived at that epiphany, it changed everything. All of the energy I was expending chasing other things could now be conserved and channeled in the direction of where my customers really are,” Adefemi said.

Faculty Advisor, serial entrepreneur, and Founder of Future Africa, Iyin Aboyeji, explained the interesting aspect of the cohort.

 “What impressed me most about this cohort was their ability to build businesses to solve big problems that impact real people. No valuation games. No building for Silicon Valley. Just true impact; every entrepreneur displayed servant leadership in building their solutions – each with their own story of strong resolve and sacrifice. All eager to learn. This is my 5th year and every year it gets better,” Aboyeji said.

The 2024 cohort represented a diverse cross-section of industries vital to Africa’s economic development including education & workforce development as observed in Benson’s Tuteria democratizing access to quality education through personalized tutoring; Eyitayo Ogunmola’s Utiva: Bridging the tech skills gap through virtual learning and talent placement; and Ifeanyi-Eze, Accountinghub: Empowering professionals with digital workplace skills.

In the area of logistics and mobility saw Olawaseun Alley’s Fez Delivery: Optimizing last-mile delivery services for businesses and individuals; and Adefemi’s Drive45 Mobility: Innovating vehicle access through subscription services.

For financial inclusion and rural development, Abiola Jimoh’s XchangeBox: Bridging the rural-urban financial divide by connecting traders and farmers with tailored banking solutions; and Amanda Etuk’s Messenger: Revolutionizing vehicle financing and providing vital working capital to logistics operators.

Healthcare and essential services featured Christine Omowunmi Emmanuel-Ogah’s ExC Pharmacy with focus on expanding access to quality healthcare through community-focused pharmacy services; and Ejiro Udu’s Premium Power Solutions with mission of addressing energy security through innovative power solutions.

Cascador Co-Director and Head of Strategy at Lagos Business School, Chidi Okoro, emphasized the program’s evolution.

 “Over the past six years, we’ve refined our approach to supporting Nigerian entrepreneurs. This cohort has particularly excelled in leveraging our resources to strengthen their business models, improve their market understanding, and expand their impact,” Okoro said.

The intensive program structure proved particularly effective, as noted by Faculty Advisor Dee Abudu, Founder & CEO at Capricorn Digital (now Onafriq). “The combination of in-person education, advisory services, virtual learning, mentorship, and ongoing support has created a comprehensive development experience that prepares these entrepreneurs for scale,” Abudu said.

The Cascador program stands at the forefront of developing transformational entrepreneurs across Africa. Through a comprehensive 10 week program followed by 6 months of mentoring, Cascador provides mid-stage entrepreneurs with intensive resources, guidance and support to scale their ventures and amplify their social impact. Since its launch in 2019, Cascador has supported 60 entrepreneurs who have collectively raised more than $55million and created tens of thousands of jobs across Africa.

Article first published here: Cascador commits to shaping Africa’s economic future – The Morning Star News

Daniel Obi 

January 26, 2025

Cascador, a transformative programme for mid-stage entrepreneurs in Africa founded in 2019, has stated that the firm’s ultimate goal is impact. This was stated during the Alumni Meeting of the company in Ikeja recently.

According to the Founder of Cascador, Dave DeLucia; “Impact can come in a variety of forms: social impact, job creation, innovative solutions to problems, or providing opportunities for women, the poor, or disadvantaged communities to advance. Rather than offering grants or working through NGOs, we have elected to empower the entrepreneurs who are solving problems and making an impact through for-profit ventures.”

He said, “By developing leadership skills, financial acumen, connections, sources of capital and other resources to help them scale, we turbo charge their companies and make their impact possible. We also hope to inspire a spirit of humility, philanthropy and community that drives them to become leaders who give back to their country and community for years to come,” DeLucia added.

Speaking on the programme curriculum in 2024 and how it has bettered the entrepreneurs, Director of Cascador, Trish Thomas stated in a statement that “Our cohort members today have a much more expansive learning experience than our early Cascadors. A practical example of the improvement to our curriculum and timeline is that Founders have time to take their education back to their team and apply it in their real-world operating environment.”

In the past, she said “We taught the importance of knowing your customer and building your products, services and experiences around their needs. Today, our founders have time to complete a 3-week customer research project with their team, share their insights, and get our help in applying their findings to their business model. We also create a more lasting bond between the founders in each cohort through extended interaction, and teach a more holistic curriculum than before.”

In 2024, to demonstrate its commitment to the Nigerian market, Cascador awarded personal development stipends and prizes to cohort members. “We were very excited to have the funding to provide $5,000 stipends to each member of the 2024 Cascador cohort. It’s very difficult to be an entrepreneur in Nigeria today. Lending standards are tough, inflation is high, FX is very unfavourable, and there is not a lot of outside capital flowing in.”

“We encouraged our entrepreneurs to use this capital for personal and professional development to grow as a leader and access much needed training and support”.

Article first appeared here: https://businessday.ng/brands-advertising/article/empowering-entrepreneurs-for-job-creation-building-wealth-our-goal-says-cascador/

By Moses Nosike

Cascador, a transformative programme for mid-stage entrepreneurs in Africa founded in 2019, has stated that the firm’s ultimate goal is impact. This was said during the Alumni Meeting of the company in Ikeja recently.

According to the Founder, Cascador, Dave DeLucia, “Impact can come in a variety of forms: social impact, job creation, innovative solutions to problems, or providing opportunities for women, the poor, or disadvantaged communities to advance. Rather than offering grants or working through NGOs, we have elected to empower the entrepreneurs who are solving problems and making an impact through for-profit ventures.”

He said, “By developing leadership skills, financial acumen, connections, sources of capital and other resources to help them scale, we turbo charge their companies and make their impact possible. We also hope to inspire a spirit of humility, philanthropy and community that drives them to become leaders who give back to their country and community for years to come”.

Speaking on the programme curriculum in 2024 and how it has bettered the entrepreneurs, Director of Cascador, Trish Thomas said, “Our cohort members today have a much more expansive learning experience than our early Cascadors. A practical example of the improvement to our curriculum and timeline is that Founders have time to take their education back to their team and apply it in their real-world operating environment.”

She said, “In the past, we taught the importance of knowing your customer and building your products, services and experiences around their needs. Today, our founders have time to complete a 3-week customer research project with their team, share their insights, and get our help in applying their findings to their business model. We also create a more lasting bond between the founders in each cohort through extended interaction, and teach a more holistic curriculum than before.”

In 2024, to demonstrate its commitment to the Nigerian market, Cascador awarded personal development stipends and prizes to cohort members. Ms. Thomas has said “We were very excited to have the funding to provide $5,000 USD stipends to each member of the 2024 Cascador cohort. It’s very difficult to be an entrepreneur in Nigeria today. Lending standards are tough, inflation is high, FX is very unfavourable, and there is not a lot of outside capital flowing in.”

“We encouraged our entrepreneurs to use this capital for personal and professional development to grow as a leader and access much needed training and support. We conclude each Cascador programme with a pitch day. In 2024, for the first time, we awarded three cash prizes: Impact Award ($20,000 USD): Chioma Ifeanyi-Eze, Accountinghub. Chioma is transforming digital literacy across Africa through Data Entry Academy, a training programme that is empowering adults with crucial workplace skills. Pitch Competition Winner ($20,000 USD): Godwin Benson, Tuteria. Godwin is revolutionizing access to quality education through an innovative tutoring platform and curated tutor-student matching that particularly serves children with special learning needs.

And finally, Exemplary Cascador Award ($10,000 USD): Oluwaseyi Adefemi, Drive45 Mobility. Seyi was honoured by his peers for outstanding leadership, collaboration, and his innovative approach to democratizing vehicle ownership through subscription services” Ms. Thomas revealed.

Speaking of the Cascador Alumni community, Programme Director of Cascador, Amanda Etuk said, “We have always maintained connectivity and advisory level availability to our Cascador alumni, but our support for our alumni community is about to increase dramatically. We have historically hosted regular alumni dinners, mentored on a case-by-case basis, made introductions, and offered guidance on strategy and governance – that will all continue.

But through additional funding for our endowment in 2024, hiring a full-time team, and engaging more contract professionals, we will have far greater time and resources to develop our Cascador founders. We are still working on the details (announcement coming soon!), but we will be investing and lending substantial capital to our alumni in 2025 and beyond. We will also be providing more ongoing education, networking opportunities, and improved mentorship and services to everyone who has participated in Cascador in the future,” she stated.

On 2025 and new programme features or benefits, she said, “We’re still working out the details on some aspects of our 2025 expansion, but I can share a few things in advance. Our new, expanded Cascador programme will continue this year. The alumni community can expect a much higher level of engagement, education and support from us. And thanks to a large funding infusion into our Foundation, we will be able to annually award loans and investment capital to our alumni. Once we have the details of our capital plan finalized, we will share the news publicly. But suffice it to say that alumni will have some great opportunities coming.”

Elaborating on the motivation behind the volunteers and effort to developing entrepreneurial leaders in Africa, DeLucia stressed that Nigeria offers such fertile ground for impact! “We love working with entrepreneurs who are smart, motivated, mission-driven and operate successful businesses in a very difficult business environment. “

According to him, “Our faculty are committed to making the world a better place and supporting and inspiring the business leaders of tomorrow. It is an honour to share our expertise, wisdom, connections and capital with such dedicated founders who will apply it to solve problems, help others and scale. Our faculty and mentors also hope that their example will contribute to a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Nigeria and a spirit of cooperation and giving back that will lift the entire economy and society.”

This article first appeared here: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/01/cascador-deepens-nigerian-entrepreneurial-ecosystem/